Ag/SnO2 heterogeneous material was obtained via directly decomposing single-source precursor Ag2SnO3 at temperature of 400 degrees C, owing to the in situ growth from the decomposition. This kind of heterogeneous structure was helpful to improve the photocatalysis efficiency. When Ag/SnO2 heterogeneous material was employed as photocatalysts in the degradation of Conco Red, its catalytic efficiency is 3-fold that of the mixture of Ag and SnO2 powders. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.